Adjustable bench stop



July 7, 1953 H. H. LOGAN ADJUSTABLE BENCH STOP Filed June 5, 1950 Patented July 7, 1953 1 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE U 2,644,499 I I ADJUSTABLE BENCH STOP Henry H. Lga.n,'Chicago, Ill.

Application June 3, 1950, Serial No. 165,996

3 Claims.

1 My invention contemplates and provides an improved bench stop.

An object of my invention is to provide a simple, sturdy and altogether practical bench stop that may be properly so utilized as to have no dulling effects upon tools appropriately applied to a work piece with which the bench stop is cooperating, and which, even if improperly used,

can 'have but minimum dulling effects on such tools. I

Another object of my invention is to provide a bench stopconsisting essentially of a tightenerequipped stop-plate unit which, when occasion tions and arrangements of parts hereinafter more fully described and illustrated in the accompanying drawings wherein like characters of reference denote like parts throughout the several views. In the drawings,

Fig.1 is a side elevational view of a bench stop embodying my invention;

Fig. 2 is a top plan view thereof;

Fig. 3 is. a front elevational view thereof; and.

Fig. 4 is a perspective view of a modified stop plate unit.

Indicated by dotted lines at II is the wooden top of a bench with which the improved bench stop of my invention may be associated. The

bench stop itself may be regarded as comprising,

essentially, two units, 1. e. an elevator-equipped flush plate unit and a tightener-equipped stop plate unit.

The elevator-equipped flush plate unit comprises the flush plate I2 adapted to be recessed into a front corner of its associated bench top I I, as shown. Plate I2 desirably is provided with suitable screw holes for the reception of wood screws I3 for securing the plate to the bench top. Such plate I2 desirably is provided, at or near one end thereof, with a downwardly-projecting lip I4 adapted to engage a complementary table top recess to protect the screws from strains in transverse shear when the bench stop is in use. -At the end thereof opposite the lip I4 the plate I2 is provided with a massive downwardly projecting flange I5. Such flange I5, being parsuch as bronze.

tegral parts I4 and I5 preferably are formed of a readily machined and corrosion resistant metal Massive flange I5 is intended to serve as a stop plate receiver and to that end is provided with an upwardly opening longitudinally extending slot I6, the flange being U-s'haped with the open end of the U adjacent the plate I2 and the closed end away from the plate. The inner leg of the U-flange is secured to the plate I2 and the outer leg is spaced therefrom. The slot I6 desirably is somewhat narrow and quite deep and is spaced away from but par-allel with the adjacent end edge of the bench top II, as shown. Threadedly cooperating with the flange I5, and projecting upwardly into the slot I6 substantially midway between the ends of the latter, .is an elevator screw I'I.

Screw I'I desirably is provided with a knurled or equivalent head facilitating its manual manipulation. Salient features of the stop plate receiver afforded by U-flange I5 are the upwardly opening spaced-apart through notches I8 in the outer leg of the U. -These notches I8, of which preferably there are two, are formed in that vertical wall of the slot I6 which lies away from the adjacent end edge of the bench top.

The tighte-ner-equipped stop plate unit consists of a plate I9 and a pair of tightener screws 20, which serves both to guide and to hold the plate I3 in the flange I5. Plate I9, which is of such size and shape as to be fairly snugly but not tightly embraced by the walls of the aforementioned slot I6, desirably is formed of a relatively quite soft metal such as aluminum. Each of the tight ener screws has threaded engagement with the stop plate I9 and, when the bench stop is in use, occupies but extends freely through one of the aforementioned upwardly opening notches I3. Screws 20 guide the plate I9 by preventing it from tilting on the single adjusting screw Il. Screws 20 hold the plate I9 against the outer leg of the U-flange I5 by being screwed into the plate so that the outer leg is clamped between the plate I9 and the enlarged heads on the screws. These enlarged heads are knurled to facilitate manipulation of screws 20. Elevator screw I! has a knurled head for the same reason.

The bench stop just described has important advantages. It can be economically manufactured and easily installed upon a bench top. It will withstand long continued heavy service without becoming loosened with respect to the bench top. By virtue of the elevator screw I1 and the tightener screws 20, the stop plate I9 may be vertically adjusted and retained in slot I6 so as to cooperate with any given piece of work, e. g. a thin board, so as practically to eliminate any chance of the cutting edge of a tool, such as a plane, from contacting the stop plate 593. However, if the cutting edge of such a tool should contact the stop plate IS, the result will be little or no dulling of that cutting edge by reason of the softness of the metal whereof the stop plate is formed.

A very important advantage. of myimproved bench stop is the ease and facility with which the stop plate unit may be detached from and restored to the flush plate unit, in a predetermined but none the less adjustable relationship to the flush plate unit, whenever occasion requires. In the use of the bench there will be occasions when the stop plate should be absent or be replaced with one such of specifically differ ent conformation, e. g. the conformation depicted in Fig. 4. To remove the stop plate unit from the flush plate unit, the tightener screws 25 need be only slightly loosened; thereupon the stop plate .unit readily may be withdrawn, as such unit from ment of the stop plate is desired, and then tightening the screws 20.

The shanks of the tightener screws desirably have rather loose fits in their cooperating notches i8. One advantage of this loose fit of the screw shanks in the notches is that it permits but just a minute portion of one end of the stop plate to project above the upper surface of the flush plate unit whenever, as is sometimes the case, that is desirable.

The stop plate unit of Fig. 4 differs essentially from the stop plate unit of the preceding figures only in that the upper portion of that face of the stop plate 59 which is presented to the work is provided with integral extensions 19a diverging away from the stop plate in the form of a lazy V for cooperation with certain work pieces, e. g. a board disposed edgewise on the bench. That face of stop plate i9 which is presented to the work may have other special contours for suitable cooperation with certain work pieces.

Having thus illustrated and described a presently preferred embodiment of my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. A bench stop comprising a plate to be secured to a bench top at one end thereof, a stop plate receiver carried by the plate at one end thereof and serving as a downwardly projecting flange adapted to lie contiguous and alongside the adjacent end of the bench top, an upwardly opening longitudinally extending slot formed in said receiver, an adjustable device associated with said receiver and operable to engage the lower edge of the hereinafter mentioned stop plate at 6 a point intermediate the ends of said lower edge and intermediate the hereinafter mentioned vertically extending slots, a plurality of upwardly opening spaced-apart vertically extending slots formed in the vertical wall of said slot which is to lie away from the bench end whereto the receiver is contiguous, and a stop plate unit, removable from and restorable to the receiver as such unit, comprising a stop plate receivable in said longitudinally extending slot and a pair of tightener screws each threaded into the stop plate and each adapted to occupy one of said vertically extending slots with a loose fit.

2.-A bench stop comprising a bench member adapted to be attached to the bench and havin a recess open at one end and closed at the other end, an elongated stop member loosely positioned in the recess so as to be capable of projecting beyond the bench member at the open end of the recess, a single adjusting member associated with the bench member at the closed end of the recess for varying the amount by which the stop plate projects beyond the bench member, and a pair of screws associated with the stop member and the bench member at opposite sides of the adjusting member to enable the stop member to be shifted by the single adjusting member, the screws projecting freely through the bench member and having enlarged heads on the outside of the bench member and threaded portions in threaded engagement with openings in the stop member, whereby the screws may be screwed into the stop member to hold the same by clamping the bench member between the enlarged heads and the stop member.

3. A bench stop comprising a bench member adapted to be attached to the bench and having a recess open at one end and closed at the other end, an elongated stop member loosely positioned in the recess so as to be capable of projecting beyond the bench member at the open end of the recess, a single adjusting element associated with the bench member at the closed end of the recess for varying the amount by which the stop member projects beyond the bench member, and a pair of screws associated with the stop member and the bench member at opposite sides of the adjusting element to enable the stop member to be shifted by the single adjusting element, the screws projecting freely through one member and having threaded portions in threaded engagement with openings in the other member and enlarged heads on the side of said one member away from said other member, whereby the screws may be screwed into said other member to clamp the members against one another.

HENRY H. LOGAN References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 116,220 Putnam June 20, 1871 295,178 Johnson Mar. 18, 1884 823,353 McNamara June 12, 1906 919,546 Davis Apr. 27, 1909 1,236,134 Anderson Aug. '1, 1917 1,355,140 Gohr Oct. 12, 1920 2,498,892 Lush Feb. 28, 1950 

